WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:04.240 This is Colleen Grant, president of iHeartMedia Detroit, and today we're joined with 2 00:00:04.360 --> 00:00:09.279 Jacob Zupki from Whisker. He's the president and CEO. Hi Jacob, welcome, 3 00:00:09.679 --> 00:00:12.640 Thank you for having me this morning. I appreciate being here. Yeah, 4 00:00:12.679 --> 00:00:17.359 good to have you. What is the mission at Whisker. We are 5 00:00:17.879 --> 00:00:23.839 trying to shape the future of pet care through innovative products and inventive accessories that 6 00:00:23.920 --> 00:00:27.719 we bring to market to help pet parents with their pets and give us an 7 00:00:27.760 --> 00:00:32.799 example of what those might be. Whiskers most notably known for the Little Robot, 8 00:00:32.799 --> 00:00:36.240 which is a self cleaning letter box for cats. Over the last twenty 9 00:00:36.240 --> 00:00:40.600 three years, we just hit our millionth robots sold in December. Wow. 10 00:00:40.640 --> 00:00:44.520 Congratulations, thank you. It's a really exciting milestone. It happened to be 11 00:00:44.560 --> 00:00:47.240 the first day that our new CEO started, so we don't know if he 12 00:00:47.320 --> 00:00:51.159 brought good fortune or what, but he was able to help with shipping that 13 00:00:51.320 --> 00:00:56.679 unit out last in December. But we also have the Feeder Robot, which 14 00:00:56.719 --> 00:00:59.640 is a automatic feeder for cats and dogs, and then we have a whole 15 00:00:59.679 --> 00:01:03.000 line of accessories that are really great products for pet parents. So you just 16 00:01:03.040 --> 00:01:08.280 talked about your millions unit. What are some of the other most exciting moments 17 00:01:08.319 --> 00:01:14.120 you can remember at your time? I Whisker, December first, twenty fifteen 18 00:01:14.959 --> 00:01:18.560 is a date that really comes to mind. That was a moment for us 19 00:01:18.599 --> 00:01:22.719 as a company where we really got to see the convergence of how great marketing 20 00:01:22.719 --> 00:01:26.040 and great product could be brought together. So I joined at the beginning of 21 00:01:26.040 --> 00:01:32.120 twenty fifteen. I joined the founder as an Internet marketing consultant at the time, 22 00:01:32.920 --> 00:01:36.239 and throughout the year we got ready for the launch of the Little Robot 23 00:01:36.280 --> 00:01:42.200 three model. Having been fifteen years in business at the time, exponential growth 24 00:01:42.400 --> 00:01:47.840 was not necessarily top of mind in the moment, and I remember we got 25 00:01:47.879 --> 00:01:55.920 ready in September and October of that year leading into November in December for holiday 26 00:01:55.920 --> 00:02:00.359 time to launch the new Little Robot three. And at the time, there 27 00:02:00.359 --> 00:02:07.079 were these social celebrities now called influencers, and we partnered with twenty five of 28 00:02:07.079 --> 00:02:10.039 them to give away twenty five Little Robots, which seemed wild and at the 29 00:02:10.080 --> 00:02:15.639 time, and each day in December we would do one Little Robot a day 30 00:02:15.719 --> 00:02:20.800 giveaway and that first day, December first, twenty fifteen, we had all 31 00:02:20.879 --> 00:02:24.039 the influencers posts on one day about this promotion, and we more than ten 32 00:02:24.199 --> 00:02:30.520 xt our website traffic overnight, and so I remember our peak website traffic was 33 00:02:30.560 --> 00:02:34.240 in the high thirty thousands, and we had over thirty thousand people on the 34 00:02:34.280 --> 00:02:37.080 site that one day. So you're like, wow, people are really into 35 00:02:37.159 --> 00:02:40.439 this. It was super colt. It was a moment where we finally saw 36 00:02:40.479 --> 00:02:44.879 the power of social right and what it could do for our business, and 37 00:02:44.960 --> 00:02:46.719 that really carried into the following years to come. But that was an eye 38 00:02:46.759 --> 00:02:52.599 opening moment. And I would say the second one was we wrote a commercial 39 00:02:52.599 --> 00:02:57.840 called Don't Be a Scooper, and our creative team did a retreat where we 40 00:02:57.879 --> 00:03:00.960 went off site and we all have to pitch an idea and it was an 41 00:03:00.960 --> 00:03:06.520 opportunity to facilitate a moment where the best idea won, and it was a 42 00:03:06.560 --> 00:03:10.680 really cool opportunity we got away. I had read a book called From Poop 43 00:03:10.719 --> 00:03:19.280 to Gold by the Harmon Brothers, who are most notably known for the what's 44 00:03:19.319 --> 00:03:24.520 it called the Squatty Potty commercial and the poop Pore commercial and the purple bed 45 00:03:24.520 --> 00:03:28.759 commercial. And after they had some really big wins, they wrote a book 46 00:03:28.800 --> 00:03:32.240 called From Poop to gold and I remember I read that and it just it 47 00:03:32.360 --> 00:03:36.479 inspired an idea that I had already been thinking about, which was to do 48 00:03:36.520 --> 00:03:39.000 a creative retreat and get away from the office to write a new commercial. 49 00:03:39.360 --> 00:03:42.719 And we did that and we wrote a spot and we came out of that. 50 00:03:42.759 --> 00:03:46.879 Our creative director's idea was don't be a Scooper. The theme and the 51 00:03:46.919 --> 00:03:51.199 purpose was to make people never look at the litter box the same again. 52 00:03:51.840 --> 00:03:54.960 And it was a moment for us as a brand where we really turned heads. 53 00:03:55.319 --> 00:04:00.080 And we launched that in November of twenty nineteen, so right before Covid 54 00:04:00.159 --> 00:04:08.000 started and we accelerated our business overnight. We launched a spot that really got 55 00:04:08.039 --> 00:04:11.800 people to look at the litter box a different way. And I was just 56 00:04:11.919 --> 00:04:15.600 interviewing somebody who just started this week in the company, and I remember in 57 00:04:15.639 --> 00:04:19.519 their follow up interview they said to me, I will never be able to 58 00:04:19.519 --> 00:04:23.959 look at the litter box the same. Ever since we talked and I watched 59 00:04:24.000 --> 00:04:28.160 that commercial, all I can think of every time my scoop now is the 60 00:04:28.199 --> 00:04:30.680 little robot and that was the intent of the commercial. And so that was 61 00:04:30.680 --> 00:04:35.800 another breakout moment for the brand where we really saw the opportunity to turn heads 62 00:04:35.800 --> 00:04:40.079 and to get people thinking differently about the litter box, which is a goal 63 00:04:40.079 --> 00:04:44.040 of ours, is how do we make people look at solutions or chores in 64 00:04:44.079 --> 00:04:46.800 our case and never look at them the same again, Because if we can 65 00:04:46.879 --> 00:04:51.360 do that, it's similar to how you might think about the thermostat nowadays, 66 00:04:51.879 --> 00:04:58.800 or a stationary bike with respect to the peloton or many other products. And 67 00:04:58.879 --> 00:05:02.040 I always rather an to cleanox and tissue paper. Now is that we have 68 00:05:02.199 --> 00:05:05.839 done that in our category? Is we've gotten people look at something and now 69 00:05:05.879 --> 00:05:11.319 think of the little robot instead of the category name itself. So he said, 70 00:05:11.560 --> 00:05:14.959 you know, don't be a scooper and to think about the litter box 71 00:05:15.079 --> 00:05:18.040 totally differently. That you're revolutionizing the way people will look at that. But 72 00:05:18.120 --> 00:05:21.680 we haven't really addressed like what is the little robot and how is it different? 73 00:05:21.759 --> 00:05:26.360 So let's let's I think we need to fill people in on what is 74 00:05:26.399 --> 00:05:29.439 the difference. Yeah, well, since this is a podcast, I'll leave 75 00:05:29.480 --> 00:05:33.040 everybody with the thought of if you are mobile right now and you are unable 76 00:05:33.079 --> 00:05:40.079 to quickly remember this, go tocatpoop dot com because you can't onhearcatpoop dot com. 77 00:05:40.600 --> 00:05:44.439 But the Little Robot is a self cleaning litter box for cats. It 78 00:05:44.560 --> 00:05:47.839 was the first of its kind that used gravity to sift and separate the clean 79 00:05:47.920 --> 00:05:53.480 litter from the dirty litter, depositing the dirty clumps into the waste store beneath 80 00:05:54.680 --> 00:05:59.759 containing those traditional cat litter box odors, while leaving your cat with a clean 81 00:05:59.800 --> 00:06:02.959 bot litter each time. Right, We as human beings, unfortunately are not 82 00:06:03.160 --> 00:06:08.920 perfect people, and we don't tend to scoop on a regular basis when we 83 00:06:08.959 --> 00:06:13.040 have a cat at home, No way. And so when you think about 84 00:06:13.120 --> 00:06:18.439 the idea of a dirty porta potty for human beings, we as human beings 85 00:06:18.600 --> 00:06:24.279 tend not to appreciate those as much as maybe our cat doesn't appreciate their dirty 86 00:06:24.319 --> 00:06:27.920 litter box. So I draw that analogy, which is we as human beings 87 00:06:27.959 --> 00:06:31.480 don't want to go into a used restroom and have to use that restroom, 88 00:06:31.720 --> 00:06:35.240 Well, why should our cats have to do that? With the little Robot 89 00:06:35.560 --> 00:06:39.600 you never have to think about that again. And as a clean metal letter, 90 00:06:39.600 --> 00:06:43.199 each time your cat goes, it's got an ample amount of space for 91 00:06:43.240 --> 00:06:45.800 your cat to get in, do its business and be able to leave. 92 00:06:46.079 --> 00:06:48.519 With a multi cat household It makes it so that you don't have to think 93 00:06:48.560 --> 00:06:51.920 about the litter box every day. And I have one cat at home and 94 00:06:51.959 --> 00:06:56.680 I only have to empty the Little Robot with my old Little Robot three about 95 00:06:56.680 --> 00:07:00.360 every two weeks, with the new Little Robot four every three weeks. It 96 00:07:00.399 --> 00:07:04.279 contains those traditional litter box holders. Even with it being in my wife's office 97 00:07:04.360 --> 00:07:10.319 at the house and heard just being pregnant for the last nine months. It 98 00:07:10.360 --> 00:07:14.759 has been absolutely a game changer on our household, having used it for eight 99 00:07:14.839 --> 00:07:17.519 years, and while I maybe a little bit bias given my role, I'm 100 00:07:17.560 --> 00:07:23.800 also a super user of the product well. And there's a lot of automation 101 00:07:23.879 --> 00:07:28.360 that comes with that because it can't take you either, can't be that amount 102 00:07:28.360 --> 00:07:31.040 of time between changes without a lot of automation. Talk a little bit about 103 00:07:31.079 --> 00:07:34.160 that. Yeah, so the Little Robot is pretty cool. It's as if 104 00:07:34.199 --> 00:07:39.720 your cat is flushing its own toilet. So when the cat enters the unit, 105 00:07:40.040 --> 00:07:43.399 a sensor goes off. With the Little Robot four, that's a series 106 00:07:43.439 --> 00:07:46.319 of different sensors. With the Little Robot three that was a weight sensor. 107 00:07:46.879 --> 00:07:50.160 And what happens is seven minutes after the cat leaves a unit, it automatically 108 00:07:50.160 --> 00:07:55.279 cycles, so it's fully automatic. And now with the digital product that we 109 00:07:55.360 --> 00:07:59.240 have, we have over a half a million users now of our digital product 110 00:07:59.439 --> 00:08:03.360 that are connected to their little Robot units at home or their feeder robot that 111 00:08:03.480 --> 00:08:07.560 get real time notifications and real time insights on what's happening with their path. 112 00:08:09.319 --> 00:08:13.279 Back in twenty nineteen, I was traveling and I was out of town for 113 00:08:13.319 --> 00:08:20.480 about three days. I remember looking at my phone having I was on a 114 00:08:20.480 --> 00:08:22.000 work trip, and I put my phone in the other room so I could 115 00:08:22.040 --> 00:08:26.800 really focus, and I remember walking back to my phone and having a flurry 116 00:08:26.800 --> 00:08:31.320 of notifications from my Little Robot app. And my wife had a miscall. 117 00:08:31.679 --> 00:08:35.279 So I called her back and she said, I just got a bunch of 118 00:08:35.279 --> 00:08:39.480 notifications from the app. What's going on. I just went over to check 119 00:08:39.559 --> 00:08:43.679 on the little robot and Lexie was sitting outside the little robot getting in and 120 00:08:43.799 --> 00:08:46.200 out and out, in and out. We rushed sort of the vat we 121 00:08:46.320 --> 00:08:52.879 found a UTI in our cat before I became a major problem. Wow, 122 00:08:52.919 --> 00:08:54.919 this is something we would have never known with the regular litter box. One 123 00:08:54.960 --> 00:08:58.360 it might have been in our basement. Two it might have been somewhere that 124 00:08:58.440 --> 00:09:03.320 ever that you would have never had any kind of alert that your cat was 125 00:09:03.360 --> 00:09:05.759 going in and out and in and out and actually was probably in some pain. 126 00:09:07.399 --> 00:09:09.360 Correct. And so we've had a lot of these stories come through. 127 00:09:09.720 --> 00:09:13.120 We don't publish them right now because our goal right now as a brand is 128 00:09:13.120 --> 00:09:16.879 to under promise over deliver. We sell you a great automatic litter box, 129 00:09:18.200 --> 00:09:22.159 but some of the new features that we have coming out in twenty twenty three 130 00:09:22.240 --> 00:09:26.440 that will backwards compatible for all of our litter Robot four users and many features 131 00:09:26.440 --> 00:09:31.200 for our litter Robot three as well. Really excited about what's to come with 132 00:09:31.240 --> 00:09:35.120 our digital product, things like the ability to recognize your cat by weight ID 133 00:09:35.759 --> 00:09:39.840 and some other cool features that help to really normalize data for your path and 134 00:09:41.000 --> 00:09:45.240 understand the frequency of use, understand their weight change behaviors. Because the literal 135 00:09:45.320 --> 00:09:48.320 about four weighs your cat each time, I don't think I would have ever 136 00:09:48.399 --> 00:09:52.039 known my cat weighs seven point eight pounds consistently for the last year now. 137 00:09:52.080 --> 00:09:58.679 And that's actually important because cats gaining any fraction of weight or losing a fraction 138 00:09:58.720 --> 00:10:01.279 of weight can be subst chanel and an indicator that something's wrong as well. 139 00:10:01.879 --> 00:10:07.360 Yeah, between that and water, I would say water health the ability or 140 00:10:07.399 --> 00:10:11.320 the ability to track how much your pet is drinking, something that we may 141 00:10:11.399 --> 00:10:16.039 or may not be working on at Whisker right now. I think our really 142 00:10:16.039 --> 00:10:22.080 cool opportunities just understand what is happening with your pet, because unfortunately cats can't 143 00:10:22.120 --> 00:10:26.279 yet talk, right, and this is I would say, the closest way 144 00:10:26.279 --> 00:10:28.679 of understanding what is going on with your pet. Right Why an't we going 145 00:10:28.759 --> 00:10:33.639 to have stuff from you for dogs and ferrets and our fish and come on, 146 00:10:33.799 --> 00:10:37.679 Jacob, get on it. We're working on. We're getting on a 147 00:10:37.720 --> 00:10:41.120 series of things that we believe addressed the core what we call our product trinity, 148 00:10:41.200 --> 00:10:45.720 food, water and waste. And I think right there we can address 149 00:10:45.840 --> 00:10:50.759 a lot of really cool opportunities in the house to both automate chores and also 150 00:10:50.879 --> 00:10:54.919 bring more insight to the pet parent about what's going on with their pat right, 151 00:10:54.960 --> 00:10:58.919 which everybody deeply wants if they care about their pet, and obviously the 152 00:10:58.960 --> 00:11:01.320 majority of people do. We saw some of that in the Super Bowl ads 153 00:11:01.320 --> 00:11:09.720 this weekend, and I think that that was a very empathetic way of relating 154 00:11:09.759 --> 00:11:16.000 to pet parents in general. Notably, we were talking yesterday internally about the 155 00:11:16.000 --> 00:11:20.000 Farmer's Dog commercial. I think they did a really awesome job telling this story 156 00:11:20.080 --> 00:11:24.639 of how we care so deeply about our pats, and I think they did 157 00:11:24.639 --> 00:11:28.320 a really good job with that. Yeah, I agree. So there are 158 00:11:28.320 --> 00:11:31.840 there have been challenges over the growth that you're experiencing. Expressed some of those 159 00:11:31.879 --> 00:11:37.399 to us. Yeah. So we went into twenty nineteen twenty twenty pre COVID 160 00:11:37.159 --> 00:11:41.519 with about ninety nine employees and we come out employing over five hundred people. 161 00:11:43.360 --> 00:11:48.279 So it has been a very busy few years. Fortunately, our growth was 162 00:11:50.000 --> 00:11:54.440 starting in twenty nineteen before COVID happened, so it wasn't necessarily COVID induced. 163 00:11:54.759 --> 00:11:58.879 I think it was actually supported with the extra money in the market and things 164 00:11:58.879 --> 00:12:01.519 of that sort. But we fortunately had a growth year in twenty twenty two 165 00:12:01.519 --> 00:12:07.559 and twenty twenty three is aligning with what we believe is possible with the Whisker 166 00:12:07.600 --> 00:12:13.360 brand. Along the way, we have gone through two factory expansions. So 167 00:12:13.440 --> 00:12:18.639 we started in twenty nineteen with thirty thousand feet, we come out into twenty 168 00:12:18.639 --> 00:12:22.039 twenty three now with two hundred and twenty two thousand square feet. We did 169 00:12:22.080 --> 00:12:26.759 an expansion in twenty nineteen twenty twenty of doubling our foot principle from thirty to 170 00:12:26.840 --> 00:12:31.639 sixty thousand. Before we completed the expansion in twenty twenty, we had already 171 00:12:31.679 --> 00:12:35.440 started the phase two. Well, Phase two and phase three. We readid 172 00:12:35.480 --> 00:12:41.440 our office space both in Michigan and Wisconsin, and we also expanded again, 173 00:12:41.519 --> 00:12:48.120 tripling the size of our facility. That is a lot with supply chain and 174 00:12:48.159 --> 00:12:52.960 manufacturing scalop right to do that and then problems the time, and then add 175 00:12:54.000 --> 00:12:58.639 a global pandemic, I add shortages in supply chain for both building and for 176 00:12:58.960 --> 00:13:01.240 our product. And then in twenty twenty two, I would say we faced 177 00:13:01.240 --> 00:13:07.879 our biggest challenge in our company history, which was launching a new robot at 178 00:13:07.879 --> 00:13:13.399 the volume that we are currently at, which might seem straightforward for certain brands, 179 00:13:13.399 --> 00:13:18.159 but I think when you look at automotive and you think about automotive being 180 00:13:18.360 --> 00:13:24.279 a really great operator for how you scalp a supply chain quickly. They plan 181 00:13:24.440 --> 00:13:28.519 their volumes years in advance. And if you look at the ramp up of 182 00:13:28.679 --> 00:13:33.320 great automotive companies, and I'll use Tessa as an example, you know they're 183 00:13:33.480 --> 00:13:37.919 ramping up the supply chain their ability to produce at a volume that excites the 184 00:13:37.960 --> 00:13:43.759 consumer demand and meet the consumer demand over a period of years. And Rivian's 185 00:13:43.759 --> 00:13:48.120 another great example of that. You know, they're talking about going from tens 186 00:13:48.120 --> 00:13:50.080 of thousands of units to hundreds of thousands over the course of a year. 187 00:13:50.679 --> 00:13:56.080 We did that in one year. It was challenging. We faced about every 188 00:13:56.159 --> 00:14:01.480 hurdle you could ask for. We had to redesign our computer multiple times from 189 00:14:01.519 --> 00:14:05.639 even the time of our beta until the launch because of shortages of different components. 190 00:14:07.320 --> 00:14:11.200 We had to rewrite firmware, We had to scalop the actual supply chain 191 00:14:11.279 --> 00:14:16.799 and headcount in our assembly line to get ready. We had to manage dual 192 00:14:16.840 --> 00:14:20.919 supply chains with the Little Robot three model, the feeder robot and the scalop 193 00:14:20.960 --> 00:14:24.399 of Little Robot four. We had to kind of hedge our bet against the 194 00:14:24.519 --> 00:14:28.360 volumes we would expect with the Little Robot four against the Little Robot three. 195 00:14:28.720 --> 00:14:31.759 And it didn't all go to plan. You know, life does not always 196 00:14:31.759 --> 00:14:37.200 happen as planned. It did not go to plan. We faced some challenges 197 00:14:39.240 --> 00:14:41.879 and I think we learned a lot through that. I think we'd come away 198 00:14:43.320 --> 00:14:48.840 with a lot of learnings as to how to communicate even better with our customers, 199 00:14:48.080 --> 00:14:54.360 how to communicate even better internally, how to react and pivot with respect 200 00:14:54.399 --> 00:15:01.879 to both the marketing and operations and communication side with the supply chainside was something 201 00:15:01.919 --> 00:15:05.919 that when we launched a literal about three seven years ago, eight years ago 202 00:15:05.960 --> 00:15:09.559 now, we didn't have this kind of volume, so it was a very 203 00:15:09.720 --> 00:15:11.799 quiet launch. We were able to do it behind the scenes. We didn't 204 00:15:11.840 --> 00:15:16.320 have a spotlight on us, and we have a much bigger spot today than 205 00:15:16.360 --> 00:15:20.200 we did eight years ago. And I would say it was very visibly seen 206 00:15:20.679 --> 00:15:24.399 that we didn't execute at a level that I would say we're all very proud 207 00:15:24.440 --> 00:15:28.720 of. But I think we'd come out of it a lot prouder in our 208 00:15:28.759 --> 00:15:33.039 ability to work together as a team and to execute better now with some different 209 00:15:33.080 --> 00:15:37.799 people aboard the organization that I think will help steer us in the right direction 210 00:15:37.080 --> 00:15:41.320 and keep us all aligned for a much better next time around. You know, 211 00:15:41.360 --> 00:15:45.519 you said all the things that just don't go to plan as much as 212 00:15:45.519 --> 00:15:48.480 you try to get everything aligned and you know, make the correct projections for 213 00:15:48.559 --> 00:15:52.559 each line and everything and all the stuff that you learned, like that's the 214 00:15:52.600 --> 00:15:56.759 most fun part of business, you know, is like you look back and 215 00:15:56.799 --> 00:16:00.240 you're like, oh my gosh, I learned. It's so much going through 216 00:16:00.279 --> 00:16:02.919 that, and that's what makes it fun, you know. It's I talk 217 00:16:03.000 --> 00:16:06.279 about zero to one and one to two in our business, zero to one 218 00:16:06.320 --> 00:16:10.440 being the things that are inventive and have never been done before. And in 219 00:16:10.480 --> 00:16:15.320 our case, sure have companies launched products before, no question, but we've 220 00:16:15.360 --> 00:16:19.080 also invented a net new product that people haven't brought the market before, right, 221 00:16:19.200 --> 00:16:22.519 and that comes with its own set of challenges, And you know, 222 00:16:22.720 --> 00:16:27.879 I internally, one of the things that I really talk about is the intellectual 223 00:16:29.039 --> 00:16:32.840 challenge that you get when you're doing zero to one work. And at the 224 00:16:32.919 --> 00:16:36.799 outset of COVID in April of two thousand, we had a lot to learn 225 00:16:37.039 --> 00:16:41.840 very quickly. Having manufacturing our own product, we had to figure out how 226 00:16:41.879 --> 00:16:47.759 to do all of that. It was the most intellectually challenging work. I 227 00:16:47.799 --> 00:16:51.759 don't think I've ever had more fun. I think twenty twenty could have been 228 00:16:52.080 --> 00:16:56.399 for me one of the one of the most exciting times. Of course scary 229 00:16:56.679 --> 00:17:02.000 and a lot of unknowns, but intellectually challenging. And I think in twenty 230 00:17:02.080 --> 00:17:08.319 twenty two there were definitely some challenges we've faced before that we faced again in 231 00:17:08.400 --> 00:17:15.440 similar ways, and that was that was for me maybe some of the frustrating 232 00:17:15.480 --> 00:17:18.240 moments where I was like, we've been here before, why are we doing 233 00:17:18.240 --> 00:17:22.799 this again? And so that was a reality check on a certain way that 234 00:17:22.839 --> 00:17:29.279 we were operating and something that I'm really excited to really learn from our challenges 235 00:17:29.359 --> 00:17:32.519 this time around and make sure that we don't make the same mistake twice. 236 00:17:33.000 --> 00:17:36.079 You know, we talk about that as you know, it's healthy to make 237 00:17:36.160 --> 00:17:38.359 mistakes, it's healthy to learn. But when you don't ask the right questions, 238 00:17:38.759 --> 00:17:42.599 when you don't tap into the stakeholders that have seen it before, and 239 00:17:42.720 --> 00:17:48.480 you go into it blindly, without approaching things in a way where somebody has 240 00:17:48.519 --> 00:17:52.920 this knowledge and you should ask questions and be vulnerable and be willing to be 241 00:17:55.079 --> 00:17:59.480 just ask questions that may even to you seem dumb, but to someone else, 242 00:18:00.000 --> 00:18:03.759 I've been there, they know what they're doing. And when you don't 243 00:18:03.799 --> 00:18:07.079 do that, that's what I think. Making the second mistake is not a 244 00:18:07.200 --> 00:18:11.079 positive and not a move forward. And that's where your gray hairs come from, 245 00:18:11.279 --> 00:18:15.359 right, And it's super frustrating. You'd brought up the zero to one 246 00:18:15.400 --> 00:18:18.079 and I have to tell you because I know you have small children's much younger 247 00:18:18.079 --> 00:18:23.599 than mine minor like about ten year period older than yours, and I can't 248 00:18:23.640 --> 00:18:26.920 tell you. You know, you use business to teach them all the time. 249 00:18:26.960 --> 00:18:30.240 You can't help it. It's just part of what you do. And 250 00:18:30.319 --> 00:18:32.680 I talk to them all the time. They'll be like, I don't want 251 00:18:32.680 --> 00:18:36.559 to do this, and I'll be like, the difference between zero and one. 252 00:18:37.079 --> 00:18:40.759 Once you've done it one time, just get the first time over with, 253 00:18:40.960 --> 00:18:42.519 and then every other times easier than that. So just get that zero 254 00:18:42.519 --> 00:18:45.079 to one over with. Let's go, you know. So it's funny. 255 00:18:45.079 --> 00:18:48.319 I just love the zero to one all the time because if you can just 256 00:18:48.400 --> 00:18:53.119 do that first one, you got it. But to your point, hold 257 00:18:53.160 --> 00:18:56.519 on. But to your point is like when you get to six, don't 258 00:18:56.519 --> 00:19:00.279 do the things at zero again. For me, zero to one in my 259 00:19:00.359 --> 00:19:04.920 both personal and professional life is like my favorite. It's the unknown, it's 260 00:19:04.960 --> 00:19:11.039 the lash the paper, it's the ability to think about something that may not 261 00:19:11.160 --> 00:19:15.279 have been done before or that you're doing for the first time yourself. And 262 00:19:15.400 --> 00:19:19.680 for me, that's the most exciting, both as an entrepreneur and somebody who 263 00:19:19.759 --> 00:19:22.599 enjoys challenges. I think that for me is the most exciting, again, 264 00:19:22.680 --> 00:19:26.799 both in personal life and in professional even going from one kid to two. 265 00:19:27.480 --> 00:19:30.519 You see the difference of what you didn't know the first time around and what 266 00:19:30.640 --> 00:19:34.640 you now know the second time. A great example and I saw it with 267 00:19:34.680 --> 00:19:40.200 my wife of just how much more relaxed she was the second time around, 268 00:19:40.279 --> 00:19:44.880 of understanding exactly what was going to be thrown at her. Of course it's 269 00:19:44.880 --> 00:19:47.759 going to be different when the second child, they're going to reactively, but 270 00:19:47.960 --> 00:19:52.440 seeing how she handled that in our personal life and then seeing how I do 271 00:19:52.480 --> 00:19:56.160 that and our team does that in our professional lives, it's really exciting. 272 00:19:56.160 --> 00:20:00.000 And then yeah, when you get the six, if you're doing the same 273 00:20:00.240 --> 00:20:03.599 thing that you tried to do at zero to one that didn't work, yeah, 274 00:20:03.039 --> 00:20:07.319 I think there's a time and place to try things a second time, 275 00:20:07.799 --> 00:20:11.880 but knowingly what didn't work the first time, right, because it might work 276 00:20:11.920 --> 00:20:15.279 the second time as long as you learn from the first time, right, 277 00:20:15.279 --> 00:20:18.519 and using those resources you mentioned of people who actually have the experience from the 278 00:20:18.599 --> 00:20:21.480 zero to one and bringing that back and going hey, let's talk through this 279 00:20:21.599 --> 00:20:23.319 so and I you know, I call it my bench. I've get my 280 00:20:23.359 --> 00:20:29.759 bench a mentors that I go to people that maybe in different roles that are 281 00:20:30.880 --> 00:20:33.960 above where I am in my career, or maybe you haven't yet reached that 282 00:20:34.000 --> 00:20:37.960 point of their career, and I try and tap into any and all resources 283 00:20:37.960 --> 00:20:41.279 that I can to learn from what they've gone through. Because each company is 284 00:20:41.279 --> 00:20:45.799 different, smaller or bigger than Whisker, it doesn't matter because we all experience 285 00:20:45.839 --> 00:20:49.680 things differently. And one of the things for me that I have really appreciated 286 00:20:49.720 --> 00:20:53.279 it's just asking questions and being vulnerable. And I think that in and of 287 00:20:53.319 --> 00:20:59.400 itself is a superpower, is vulnerability and showing where you don't know the answer 288 00:20:59.519 --> 00:21:03.039 and asking the question. And I think what's really cool for me, especially 289 00:21:03.079 --> 00:21:07.880 when you're talking to people who have been through it or have been through versions 290 00:21:07.880 --> 00:21:12.200 of it, they like to share their experience, and you know, I 291 00:21:12.319 --> 00:21:17.559 like to continue building my bench the people that I can go to to ask 292 00:21:17.680 --> 00:21:22.799 questions and how they're doing it. And during COVID, I remember and April 293 00:21:22.799 --> 00:21:26.200 of two thousand, I went to the president of our plastic supplier, who 294 00:21:26.400 --> 00:21:33.400 is a smaller business than Whisker is, but that was looking at things differently 295 00:21:33.440 --> 00:21:37.839 than we were, and I got to pick his brain. Every week we 296 00:21:37.920 --> 00:21:41.400 met for a period of time just to talk about what they were doing versus 297 00:21:41.400 --> 00:21:45.839 what we were doing and to exchange ideas. And it was super cool for 298 00:21:45.920 --> 00:21:51.359 me, as a first time operator of a business of this size, to 299 00:21:51.440 --> 00:21:53.880 pick the brain of somebody who had been doing plastics for as long as they 300 00:21:53.920 --> 00:21:59.279 have and to learn from them. And you know, some people would say, 301 00:21:59.279 --> 00:22:00.759 well, maybe they weren't the size and scale that we were at the 302 00:22:00.799 --> 00:22:06.640 time. That didn't matter because the challenges are the same, It's just at 303 00:22:06.640 --> 00:22:10.599 a different scale. And that for me was really exciting and something that I 304 00:22:10.680 --> 00:22:14.240 still try and do every day. So you'd said, you you're up to 305 00:22:14.359 --> 00:22:17.240 over five hundred people, right, So what is it like to be a 306 00:22:17.240 --> 00:22:22.880 colleague at Whisker? I think right now and what has been is it's a 307 00:22:22.960 --> 00:22:30.319 really exciting time to be part of an organization that I won't steal the Jeff 308 00:22:30.319 --> 00:22:36.799 Bezos mindset of day one, but operating with a day one mindset, and 309 00:22:36.839 --> 00:22:41.039 by that I mean being willing to challenge the status quo, being able to 310 00:22:41.039 --> 00:22:45.920 work on inventive products and companies that have never brought to market before, being 311 00:22:47.119 --> 00:22:52.640 open to new ways of marketing our brand and bringing to market a brand that 312 00:22:52.680 --> 00:22:57.160 has never done something like this before, where we're truly growing a category. 313 00:22:57.559 --> 00:23:02.759 And when you think about growing category and being for lack of a better words, 314 00:23:02.799 --> 00:23:07.119 the cleanex of tissue paper, we've done that in self cleaning utter boxes. 315 00:23:07.480 --> 00:23:11.559 Our brand, the litter Robot as a brand has grown at a rate 316 00:23:11.640 --> 00:23:15.799 that's almost three times faster than the category itself, and we've helped to grow 317 00:23:15.839 --> 00:23:19.920 the categories. The categories enormous and imagine what you've done through the category. 318 00:23:21.000 --> 00:23:23.920 And it's cool because our search volume, which I'm an SEO geek in my 319 00:23:25.039 --> 00:23:29.039 core, our search volume is so much greater for litter Robot than it is 320 00:23:29.079 --> 00:23:33.160 for self cleaning and automatic letter boxes because of our marketing. And so everybody 321 00:23:33.160 --> 00:23:38.480 at at every part of the organization gets to influence that in one way or 322 00:23:38.519 --> 00:23:42.319 another. Whether you're on the front lines building our product or talking to our 323 00:23:42.319 --> 00:23:48.000 customers and our customer experience department, whether you're in marketing helping to shape the 324 00:23:48.000 --> 00:23:52.839 brand that we're building for tomorrow, whether you're in engineering inventing tomorrow's products and 325 00:23:52.920 --> 00:23:57.640 bringing to market new digital and physical solutions, or you're in another department operations 326 00:23:57.720 --> 00:24:02.759 finance or otherwise. You get to work on things that haven't been done before 327 00:24:03.000 --> 00:24:07.640 and scale a company at the rate that we have, and that's just exciting. 328 00:24:08.039 --> 00:24:12.000 And I often say in our business, if we're not having fun in 329 00:24:12.160 --> 00:24:18.920 pet care, in technology, in e commerce and directing consumer, we're doing 330 00:24:18.960 --> 00:24:22.279 everything wrong right and it's all new, how fun and exciting. There's so 331 00:24:22.319 --> 00:24:25.599 much energy there, and you can feel it when you talk about it. 332 00:24:25.599 --> 00:24:27.640 It's really exciting, and I think you can feel it at a lot of 333 00:24:29.640 --> 00:24:33.039 throughout our entire organization, even when I'm in the assembly plan and I'm talking 334 00:24:33.039 --> 00:24:37.039 with our team. But you know, one of the things that we did 335 00:24:37.039 --> 00:24:38.480 in the leadership group, we went and worked on the line with everybody for 336 00:24:38.519 --> 00:24:42.160 two days to kick off our holiday season. It and people ask why I'm 337 00:24:42.200 --> 00:24:47.880 doing that, And maybe I would say a little brash in the way that 338 00:24:48.079 --> 00:24:51.440 the question was asked, But Jacob, what the heck are you doing on 339 00:24:51.559 --> 00:24:53.720 the line with us? And I smiled and I laughed, and I said 340 00:24:53.720 --> 00:24:57.200 two things. One, I want to kick off our busiest time in the 341 00:24:57.279 --> 00:25:03.200 year. Alongside everybody. I was taking customer phone calls. I was working 342 00:25:03.200 --> 00:25:06.519 on the line. If I don't know what's actually happening, I can't do 343 00:25:06.599 --> 00:25:11.720 my job effectively. And secondly, I look at things differently than they do. 344 00:25:11.000 --> 00:25:17.720 When you do something repeatedly often, you don't necessarily see it from a 345 00:25:17.799 --> 00:25:21.440 zero to one mindset. You don't necessarily see the thing that you're doing every 346 00:25:21.480 --> 00:25:23.920 day the same way. And I do, and our team does in a 347 00:25:23.960 --> 00:25:29.400 fresh perspective. Part of our core values is looking at things with fresh eyes 348 00:25:29.440 --> 00:25:33.039 and being inventive in your approach at every level of the org. I do 349 00:25:33.119 --> 00:25:37.119 that every day, and when I'm doing working in somebody else's role, I 350 00:25:37.200 --> 00:25:41.680 get to see it in a different way. And one great example where I 351 00:25:41.759 --> 00:25:47.359 was inventive one of our core values. I was watching we have a calibration 352 00:25:47.599 --> 00:25:52.400 step in our literal ro about four assembly line. It allows us to calibrate 353 00:25:52.440 --> 00:25:56.720 a scale to make sure that it's always perfect, and it's towards the end 354 00:25:56.759 --> 00:26:00.480 of the assembly line. And I was watching this operator do it, and 355 00:26:02.680 --> 00:26:07.200 he was he was doing what he did every day. And I watched him 356 00:26:07.240 --> 00:26:11.079 move the mouse to move to the next step, and he kept moving over 357 00:26:11.119 --> 00:26:15.039 the next step button and I asked him, said, Andrew, or do 358 00:26:15.079 --> 00:26:18.319 you need the button to be bigger? Because no, no, I'm all 359 00:26:18.359 --> 00:26:21.319 good. He was defending it like like I was asking him if he did 360 00:26:21.319 --> 00:26:25.599 something wrong. And I watched him for another twenty thirty minutes and I kept 361 00:26:25.640 --> 00:26:29.200 watching him do it over and over. So I walked away. I called 362 00:26:29.200 --> 00:26:32.680 her it director. I had him make the button bigger in the moment. 363 00:26:33.519 --> 00:26:36.000 I came back a couple of hours later, and Andrews like, all right, 364 00:26:36.000 --> 00:26:37.640 I did thinking about it all day. I liked the button to be 365 00:26:37.680 --> 00:26:44.319 bigger, and it was this small, subtle thing, but for him as 366 00:26:44.359 --> 00:26:48.640 an operator, for him to be able to move more efficiently, feel more 367 00:26:48.680 --> 00:26:52.480 empowered by the work that he was doing, feel more confident in his ability 368 00:26:52.519 --> 00:26:55.200 to do it, and work with in our case, and I hate my 369 00:26:55.240 --> 00:26:57.680 title in this way, but work with the CEO of the company to be 370 00:26:57.720 --> 00:27:03.240 able to make a change up positively impact everybody on that step. That's what 371 00:27:03.279 --> 00:27:04.920 we want to see every day, and that's what I hope that everybody at 372 00:27:04.920 --> 00:27:11.359 Whisker brings every day, is this inventive, fresh eyes, empowered approach to 373 00:27:11.440 --> 00:27:15.079 how they bring change in our company. So what do you with all the 374 00:27:15.119 --> 00:27:22.720 things that are being developed? What is your favorite product at Whisker? So 375 00:27:22.799 --> 00:27:27.920 I'm a user. I have been sure that I haven't said my dog in 376 00:27:29.000 --> 00:27:33.000 three years and I haven't scooped the litter box in eight years. So between 377 00:27:33.000 --> 00:27:37.359 not feeding my dog and not scooping, I have a lot more time to 378 00:27:37.400 --> 00:27:41.160 think about the exciting products that we're working on. UM I think for me, 379 00:27:42.039 --> 00:27:48.799 combination of our our digital product roadmap is super exciting. So with the 380 00:27:48.799 --> 00:27:55.799 literal about four platform drawing the analogy to you know, any other IoT product 381 00:27:55.880 --> 00:28:00.960 platform, we get to continually invent for consumers about the product last year and 382 00:28:02.039 --> 00:28:07.039 the year before that and the year before that four years to come, so 383 00:28:07.079 --> 00:28:12.079 they will continually get new upgrades on their platform. Given I know the product 384 00:28:12.240 --> 00:28:17.440 roadmap, I would say i'd bias. I think they're really cool. I 385 00:28:17.440 --> 00:28:21.400 think some of the things we're able to do in pat health, your ability 386 00:28:21.799 --> 00:28:26.200 to know that your eight eight year old Siberian cat, that's what I have. 387 00:28:26.440 --> 00:28:33.240 She's eight years old, who weighs eight pounds in comparing her anomalies in 388 00:28:33.359 --> 00:28:38.319 weight, fluctuation in litter box use and eventually food consumption and water consumption, 389 00:28:38.599 --> 00:28:42.799 and compare that to all other eight year old Siberian cats on our platform with 390 00:28:42.839 --> 00:28:48.480 a similar weight profile. No other company in the world can do that. 391 00:28:48.960 --> 00:28:52.000 And we have been able to take in just a short amount of time, 392 00:28:52.680 --> 00:29:00.240 over twenty five million cat weight readings in less than a year since we onto 393 00:29:00.279 --> 00:29:04.119 Literal four platform. And that's compounding and exponential. How many did you say, 394 00:29:04.279 --> 00:29:10.000 twenty five million? Wow? Talk about some data, you know, 395 00:29:10.119 --> 00:29:12.599 first party data that you're going to be able to use to help the health 396 00:29:12.599 --> 00:29:17.519 of animals, and it is super exciting. Some of the things that we 397 00:29:17.599 --> 00:29:22.039 have in our product roadmap for the digital the ability to really understand more about 398 00:29:22.079 --> 00:29:26.240 your pat and when we layer in food and water what we call our product 399 00:29:26.319 --> 00:29:32.720 trinity, the digital platform gets that much stronger. And I think for us 400 00:29:32.839 --> 00:29:37.319 that's really cool because when you think about the ecosystem of Apple and why you 401 00:29:37.359 --> 00:29:41.359 get bought into an Apple line of products is one makes the other better, 402 00:29:41.559 --> 00:29:44.359 right, And that's what we want to do here at Whisker, And I 403 00:29:44.400 --> 00:29:48.319 think the digital product for us is one that is really exciting for me. 404 00:29:48.400 --> 00:29:52.759 I think also some of the exciting robots that we have in development and the 405 00:29:52.799 --> 00:29:56.880 accessories we got we got a fun road ahead. Well, it has been 406 00:29:56.880 --> 00:29:59.920 an absolute joy speaking with you today, Jacob. We've been joined today with 407 00:30:00.119 --> 00:30:03.880 Jacob Zupki, the president and CEO and board member from Whisker. Thanks for 408 00:30:03.960 --> 00:30:06.640 joining us today. Thank you for having me. I appreciate it.